On the game-turning play, Dos Pueblos’ Zack Boytis wasn’t about to quit. Neither was Alex Frost of San Luis Obispo.
Frost won, and so did the SLO Tigers, 16-3, in a season-opening nonleague football clash at Dos Pueblos High Friday night.
In a game of hard knocks all night long, no one took more blows on a single play than Boytis did as he relentlessly plowed through Tiger defenders for a 25-yard gain to the SLO 20. The clock was ticking toward the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter at the time, and the Tigers were clinging onto a precarious six-point lead, 9-3.
But Frost was clinging onto Boytis over the last few strides of that grinding gain, and when Boytis refused to stop, Frost did the only thing he could to stop him —he wrestled the ball away.
Frost then put a sudden chill to DP’s victory hopes, by running past the 11 stunned Chargers on the field for 80 yards in the other direction to score the game-clinching touchdown.
“We thought we saw the light a little bit,” said Chargers head coach Jeff Uyesaka on that play. “What was impressive about that run was that (Boytis) took one of the hardest hits of the game.
“We got a couple breaks, and we think we got one there, and it goes the other way.”
Lest Dos Pueblos entertained any ideas of making a miraculous comeback, Frost made two interceptions of Boytis passes in the final five minutes to seal it.
“Definitely one of my better games,” said the SLO star of the game.
Frost, listed at 5-8, 165 pounds, was giving up six inches and 22 pounds to Boytis on the play that made him the star.
“The quarterback took it up the middle, and I hopped on him,” he described. “I was able to get my arms around him. He kept his feet going, and I kept my feet going until I got the ball away from him.”
Until Frost scored, the Tigers were frustrated on two field goal attempts in the second half that netted zero points. Thomas Lee, who kicked a successful 37-yard field goal near the end of the first half to give the visotors a 9-3 lead, missed out on a chip-shot chance on SLO’s long first possession of the third quarter because of a high snap to the holder.
Then after another sustained drive stalled midway through the fourth quarter, Lee was wide left on a 28-yard attempt.
Taking over from their own 20 with 6:29 remaining, the Chargers offense made some sudden movement after three-and-a-half quarters of futility. After catching a break on a pass interference call that netted 15 yards, Boytis completed only his fourth pass of the game for 17 yards to Hunter Harris to get DP into SLO territory (45 yard-line) for the first time in the second half.
That was immediately followed by Boytis’ 25-yard run that netted 80 yards for the Tigers the other way.
It was fitting that a defensive score would decide a decidedly defensive game. SLO’s defense held the Chargers to just 81 yards in the first half, yielding only Cory Micheel’s 30-yard field goal with 6:45 remaining in the second quarter. DP’s other three possessions in the first half ended in punts, as did the Chargers’ first three possessions of the second half.
Dos Pueblos finished the game with only 156 total yards.
“We had eight juniors starting on defense last year,” said Frost, a senior counting himself among those eight. “We believe in ourselves.”
The Tigers were faring only slightly better against a stout Dos Pueblos defense led by Shane Taylor, Aaron Thomas, Felipe Cruz and Brandon Tangel.
SLO quarterback Anthony Maez was the main threat, completing 4-of-6 passes for 92 yards and rushing for 94 more on 16 carries. John Vigginnelli, the bruising 6-1, 210-pound running back, could only produce 36 yards on 10 carries, but did reach the end zone from 1-yard out to give the Tigers an early 6-0 lead at the 9:23 mark of the second quarter.
“We learned so much about ourselves tonight,” said Uyesaka. “It was a bad loss but it was good as a team moving forward.
“We know we can play big physical teams and hold it together. The wins will come. This team knows it.”
SAN LUIS OBISPO 16, DOS PUEBLOS 3
San Luis Obispo……….0 9 0 6 — 16
Dos Pueblos…………….0 3 0 0 — 3
Second Quarter
SLO– Vigginnelli 1 run (kick no good), 9:23.
DP- Micheel 30 FG, 6:45.
SLO– Lee 37 FG, 0:33.
Fourth Quarter
SLO– Frost 80 fumble return, (Lee kick), 5:02.
TEAM TOTALS….SLO, DP
First Downs…12, 6
Rushing Yds-Att…184-46, 78-18
Passing Att-Comp.-Int…5-8-0, 5-20-2
Passing Yds…108, 78
Total Yds…292, 156
Fumbles-Lost…2-2, 1-1
Punts- Avg…4-33.5, 6-34.3
Penalties-Yds…7-55, 5-25
Individual Statistics
RUSHING — SLO- Maez 16-94, Vigginnelli 10-36, Cramer 4-18, Nunno 9-17, Hanula 1-14, Lacy 4-7, Candaele 2- (-2). DP- Houston 11-32, Boytis 5-32, Spiritsanto 1-14, Rascon 1-0.
PASSING — SLO: Maez,4-6-0-92, Candaele 1-1-0-16, James 0-1-0. DP: Boytis- 5-20-2-78,
RECEIVING — SLO: Will 1-46, Vigginnelli 1-25, Lacy 2-21, Frost 1-16. DP: Dickinson 1-34, Harris 3-23, Pena 1-21.
MISSED FIELD GOAL — SLO: Lee 28 (WL).
